Bandwagonesque by Teenage Fanclub

by Lana Fleischli

Last summer, my mom challenged me to listen to an album a week. I’m not so good at listening to albums all the way through, (especially in one sitting), because I have never had to! Bad Religion says “I’m a 21st century digital boy” and that basically sums it up, except that I’m a girl. I love making playlists, but it is very important to listen to full albums in order to get the full story.

I listened to bands that influenced my mom. She told me to listen to Teenage Fanclub. I went on a walk one morning and played the album. I was hooked from the beginning because it was confusing at first. See, I had previously listened to “What You Do To Me” which was why I was excited to listen to the full album, but when I began from the top, there was something about the first song that says so much about the whole album.

The album itself has a lot of range which can be heard from the first song “The Concept”, which I’m now realizing might be one reason why that is the first song, and why that is the name of the first song. In the song, “The Concept”, it begins with a distorted beginning, then goes into a frankly, lovely rock song about a girl. This is a theme throughout the album and “The Concept” gives a foreshadow of what is to come. For example, in the second song of the album, “Satan”, the distortion that was heard a bit before is more acknowledged. Whereas in songs like, “December” and “What You Do To Me”, that softness returns.

The album does a very good job of playing with soft and hard sounds. It makes it confusing in a brilliant way, because it really made me think and have to reflect on it. For me, this album was special because it was the first album that I listened to fully in one sitting without feeling like I had to get through it or really focus. It made me focus on it without me even trying.